Marquette: bars, search for a lip ring, and terrible pop music

The highlight of this weekend was taking a trip to Marquette, which is just over an hour away from Escanaba. Marquette is college town, home to Northern Michigan University. I wish I had pictures of the town. I'll try to take some when we go there next. This place is smaller than Flagstaff, where I went to college, but has that same feel of small city with its own unique identity. Dawn and I were thrilled about the food co-op, where I spent too much money at. I was able to find organic milk from the Midwest that is non-homogenized. Yay!!! I hugged the glass bottle. That might have been a bit over-the-top, but I type without shame! I love my organic, non-homogenized milk! I also got a little self-indulgent and bought some dark chocolate that is mixed with dried orange peels. I feel this was a very wise decision.

Anyways, as excited as one must feel while reading about my grocery shopping list, I should probably move on. Our first stop was a dive bar while waiting for Thai food that we ordered from a small local restaurant across the street. This bar was really interesting. There were wood chips all over the floor, which I had never seen before, but apparently a few places have this. There were various signs all over the place with an intimidating picture of Clint Eastwood (from "The Outlaw Josey Wales") that indicated the men's bathroom. The women's bathroom had a beautiful picture of Marilyn Monroe on the door.

Hard to tell, but I thought it was really neat that The Wooden Nickel served all their draft beers in glass jars. We played two games of pool; the second game Nate and I got our asses kicked by a local woman (and her partner) who had her own pool stick made of titanium.

That was followed by a local brewery and restaurant, which has blueberry wheat beer. Yum! The beer is served with actual blueberries in the glass. At one point I separated from the rest of the crew in search of a lip ring because mine came out while eating mediocre pad thai. I walked to two tattoo parlors, both to my surprise were closed. I guess that place is not like Chicago, where within a few blocks you can find a parlor that is open till 4am. On my adventure, I came across a house that was turned into a bar and a man outside playing the didgeridoo! I was pleasantly surprised to see someone playing this instrument. Up until then, I had only witnessed this music in Australia. This guy also happens to be a biologist and does work with plants and two endemic bird species (specific names of the species I unfortunately can't recall) within the Northern Michigan area. After meeting back up with the crew, we ended up at a dance club that played mostly over-played terrible hit pop songs. I was really craving to dance, so luckily the music had enough of a beat that I was able to do so. I can't wait to go back there!

Earlier this week we had an intense day of deer trapping since we caught six total deer, two them being pregnant does. I finally had my first try at taking blood under the great instruction of Caitlin. She has had years of experience having worked as veterinary technician in the past. Unfortunately, my attempts were unsuccessful, but I can't wait to try again! Dawn has gotten quite good at taking blood and is able to do it by herself now. We didn't get home that day till after sundown. There was still more work to be done, however. Josh was working on his hair snares with Alec, so I helped them. The wire gets cut in several places, and I was instructed to use a dremel to make bits of wire "stand up" along the cuts. This got a little painful as I worked my way down the wire. I was so slow at it that I only ended up doing one, which worked out in my favor since Josh told me after awhile you lose your sense of depth perception.

Josh in the middle of boiling hair snares. This is done to eliminate any shine, thus making them less visible to bobcats.

"Smells like fetuses"

Having set ten new traps on private land, Nate was at first very optimistic about capturing more deer. This morning we entered the site with energy and optimism. "Smells like fetuses" were Nate's lovely words of encouragement. Unfortunately, we didn't come close to smelling any fetuses, or to put more accurately, weren't able to see any during an ultrasound. Hopefully we will have more luck later this week with this new site.

Yesterday we caught one pregnant doe, and Nate showed me how to put in a VIT (vaginal implant transmitter) tag. It is much more difficult than it looks. First I had to make sure there was plenty of lubrication on the tube, which the VIT tag is placed inside of. Then I had to use my finger to feel inside the doe's vagina, which I admit was very strange and a bit uncomfortable, to have a sense of what direction the tube needs to go. I was instructed to slowly push it in until I hit the cervix. It is easy to know when the cervix is reached because the tube can't go in any further. VIT tags are used to help locate fawns right after birth. The tags are excreted during parturition, and researchers are notified of this since the tag gives off a different signal (i.e. change in frequency) which is triggered by temperature change.

A couple of side notes: in the field we've also seen bald eagles! This is always exciting for me. We've witnessed both adult and mature birds. Second, all our study sites are in mixed, new growth forests. It really saddens me to have learned that most of Michigan has been logged. According to Nate, there is some small bit of old growth up North near Marquette, but otherwise logging from last century and possibly in the 1800's has gotten rid of all the old growth forests.

I am surprised at what a fun and silly field crew I'm a surrounded by. I never would have thought that a tall, plaid-wearing man raised on a farm in a small town (T-dog) would be singing and dancing to "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. For the record, I just had to look up the proper spelling of this girl's name as well as the title of the song. This is clearly not my scene, but I do find it amusing that hard core research scientists "get down" to such pop music.

Black bears outside of hibernation

Before I begin blogging about the past few days, I want to correct an error from an earlier post. I mentioned the removal of a rocket net that was left outside near one of our deer traps. This was not a rocket net, but a cannon net. Also, rocket nets are shot out of helicopters, not airplanes. From a discussion last night on my mistake, the field crew and I have concluded that it would be fun to shoot rocket nets from hot air balloons. Getting back to cannon nets, these are on the ground and a trigger shoots them up into the air and then over the unsuspecting deer. Cameras are placed so that the moment a net goes off, the field crew rushes over to attend to the deer. Caitlin explained that these nets are only used if we aren't catching enough deer from the clover traps.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent deer trapping. On Friday we also went to locate a black bear that was trapped last spring and had a radio collar. At first, we attempted to locate this bear using VHF (very high frequency) telemetry. The way-point we used was given from an airplane, during aerial telemetry, and can be off by up to 200 meters. After some time, Tyler, who would like to be referred to as "T-dog", gave us the UTM points to get a better location. Nate was surprised to find this bear awake, which meant a little more effort on his part to inject him with a "sleeping" drug. After the bear was induced, it was a bit of a struggle to get him out of his den. It is amazing some of the hiding spots these bears find for hibernation. It is easy to walk past a den and not know it. Some of them have a very small opening. I learned how to put an ear tag in, which is quite different and more difficult than those for deer. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the other ear done. This bear was an adult, but below average in size and weighed 220 pounds. Some adult black bears can weigh up to 500 pounds! From the telemetry being done, we've found that more bears are up and about during this winter. Dr. Jerry Balant hypothesized that this could be due to several factors including a warmer winter (as mentioned in my earlier blog), and a fall season with plentiful resources. This means the bears might have been able to eat to the point of satiation, and thus gather more calories than necessary for the winter season.

On Saturday, biologist Mary Martin (who was here last week) from Northern Michigan University came with nine of her students to witness our work in the field. Students watched us work on a pregnant doe. Unfortunately we weren't able to handle another male black bear because he removed his radio collar. We searched in the forest for awhile before finding his ripped collar. I'm glad the students at least got to witness us handle deer and see the procedures done when capturing a pregnant doe.

Today was another day of deer trapping followed by setting up new traps. Setting up traps is not fun at all. It is very hard work trying to get bullets into the ground to hold the traps down. I wasn't good at it. Alec hammered a driver so hard into the ground that it got stuck in the bullet. We eventually had to use the truck to try and pull it out. The steel driver, which is supposed to be designed to avoid getting stuck, ended up u-shaped.

Nate is holding the driver that at one point was straight. I guess Alec got a little over-ambitious as he was hammering the bullet into the ground.

Despite having some rather undesirable tasks, I am still grateful for the amount of time I get to spend in the beautiful forest. It is wonderful driving down narrow dirt roads with endless pines dangling at the sides and laced with soft snow. Sometimes the snow is so light and fluffy that without eyes, you wouldn't know it was falling. I also have witnessed a lot of wildlife from red squirrels, eastern gray squirrels, grouse, short-tailed shrew, and many black-capped chickadees. Josh and I had the pleasure of these wonderful birds flying all around us during our day of setting hair snares. You can go to this web address to hear their bird call:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/black-capped_chickadee/id

Black-capped chickadee, which the crew now calls "wacked cat chickadee" in honor of my impaired hearing.

This is a picture of one of the hair snare sites Josh and I set last week. As you can see, that is one amazing fort.

A lovely town called Escanaba

This is my first day off in a week. I can't remember the last time I worked seven days straight. That in itself is a challenge. Instead of going out last night and finally exploring the bar scene, I passed out around 9:30pm while cuddling with Timothy. It's not the worst way to end an evening.

So, where am I? I'm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, more specifically, the southern part of this northern territory. Escanaba is a small town with a population of approximately 13,000. With little finances, I have succumbed to the pull of SuperWalmart. There is no Safeway, Target, or an organics food store. The organic food here, which is in small numbers, is quite expensive. Even Walmart has ridiculous prices, such as $1.88 for one zucchini! Of course you can probably guess that there is no mall here, which is no problem for me. However, there is one street that is considered the "downtown" area. I was suprised to find a Swedish and a Greek restaurant in town. I hope that one day I'll be able to check both of them out.

The lovely sign everyone gets to see when entering downtown Escanaba. Down this street you will find a few bars, a tobacco shop, some restaurants, and other needs such as dog grooming and hair salons.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan, often referred to as the "U.P." is obviously very close to Canada. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that people from here and northern Wisconsin have a dialect very similar to that of some Canadians. They say "aye" a lot at the end of their sentences. Escanaba is near Lake Michigan, while Marquette, the biggest city in the UP region and only an hour away, borders Lake Superior. I look forward to visiting this college town, which is home to Northern Michigan University.

This is simply a map that outlines the entire state of Michigan. The Upper Peninsula is separate from the mitten-shaped part of the state. The drive from Escanaba to Chicago was merely 5.5 hours. Escanaba is located near Iron Mountain, directly south of Marquette.

The study site for this project is very large. We often drive through smaller towns on our way to the forest including a place called "Powers". I find that an amusing name for a town. One of the things I love about the woods out here is that it's very diverse. Some of the deer traps are located in relatively open areas, but most of the forests are very dense. Trees encountered range from spruce to cedar to white and red pines to aspens. Walking or running off trail to get to trap sites can be challenging since the ground is covered with fallen trunks and/or branches. The canopy layers are relatively closed, but there is still plenty of sunlight that manages to poke through. Since we're so far up North, however, there are less sunny days and they're very short during the winter season.

Black spruce, a beautiful tree that hurts a lot when being used

to make a fort for hair snares.

Aspen trees, quite gorgeous, but barren over the winter.

In Michigan you will find both big-toothed and trembling Aspens.

Needle leaves of white pine tree.

Could you grab me a meat necklace please? (Part II)

I am a day behind on my blogging! I fear that a physically demanding job along with my body's need for a minimum of nine hours of sleep, which I'm not getting, is leaving me extremely tired and achy this past week. On Wednesday, I went out with Josh to help set hair snare traps. I admit this isn't as fun as deer trapping, but I really enjoy being apart of such a large scale research project where I get to directly partake in a diversity of procedures. Hair snares are a non-invasive technique of acquiring population estimates of carnivores. The hair snares we worked with are specifically designed for bobcats. A long metal wire has a bunch of tiny spikes on it which "catch" a bobcat's fur as he/she walks through it. Since bobcat fur is so thick, they can't feel it. Analysis of the hair is done through genetics, in which DNA taken from the samples are studied. This allows researchers to pick out individuals from a given population.

My main job was gathering branches to set around the snares. Basically the trap is made into a circle and there is deer bait (meat necklaces) inside the trap area. By creating a "fort" from various branches, bobcats are forced to pass or go through the hair snares to access the meat. We also had to hang a piece of deer skin from a branch over the meat that is referred to as a "fur bracelet". The final touch is a foul smelling gel-like substance called "skunk junk", which lures the bobcats to the hair snare site. Josh said they can smell this from about a half mile away! The day was long and hard. We worked till sundown, nearly ten hours. Unfortunately we didn't hit all twelve sites and had to finish the following day.

Several things I learned while being out in the woods:

1. Being smacked in the face by a branch(s) hurts a lot.

2. Always keep a minimum of five feet between you and the person in front of you when walking on or off trail.

3. If you work through the pain, hands warm up eventually.

4. Being smacked in the face by a branch(s) after the tenth time still hurts.

It was nice to come home to a care package. Thanks, mama! It was filled with organic black beans, tumeric almonds, a big box of toe warmers, and a digital camera. That was followed by a lovely dinner with the some of the field crew. We discussed how Sesame Street isn't the same anymore. Apparently Bert and Ernie are gone because they were gay, Oscar the Grouch now lives in a recycling bin, and the Cookie Monster is newly named the Veggie Monster. What is this world coming to?!

Could you grab me a meat necklace please? (Part I)

Last night I spent a good half hour typing up a blog, which then was accidentally erased. I decided to do this blog in two parts to discuss various events that have taken place over the past few days. Deer trapping on Monday and Tuesday was more intensive than usual since we had 30 traps to check instead of 22. It snowed as well, making it more difficult for me to walk rapidly or run to and from traps. Sometimes I love being short, other times I wish I had long legs of a model, but real muscle-y like a cyclist or gymnast. I guess I could make the second wish come true, but not soon.

Anyways, both days we caught pregnant does. I am finally becoming very familiar with the trap sites and the roads. I have a good idea of the tasks at hand for the data recorder as well as the procedures done a doe. I recorded data on Tuesday, but also helped take heart rate, prepare antibiotic for injection, and administer the reversal drug. I can see now that I really enjoy medical procedures and working with needles (is that creepy?). There is something so exhilarating about hearing the heart beat of another animal.

Local nature photographer, Mike Olson, came out with us on Monday and took wonderful photos. I can't wait to receive them! A biologist from Northern Michigan University came out the following day. One of the things I love most about the Predator Prey Project is how big we are on public awareness. One of the top goals this season is to promote it. We take certain people with us on deer and carnivore trappings to inform the public about what we're doing and why we're doing it. Tomorrow we are going to have nine undergraduate students join us in deer trapping and den checks.

Earlier this week I was also sent to the DNR with a couple other technicians to help make "meat necklaces" after deer trapping. These "necklaces" are really pliable metal wires that have pieces of deer meat and bone, which get tied around trees and used as bait for hair snare surveys. (I will explain surveys in the next blog). Unfortunately, the meat was frozen solid in boxes. It was a real struggle to break apart the pieces. I'm not sure who felt it was a good idea to hand me an ax, but there I was hacking away at a box of deer meat and managed to not cut off any limbs. It is a truly effective method of letting out aggression. Caitlin had a great idea to pick up the meat and slam it against the cement ground. It was too heavy for me to lift above my head, but I was still able to break some pieces. Dawn used a tool, the name of which I can't recall, to drill holes into the frozen bits and then string them through the metal wire. I still find it humorous to picture myself, a vegetarian, hacking away at broken bits of frozen deer carcasses. I find that I'm not grossed out by much, but quite fascinated with what the inside of their bodies, and those of other animals, look like.

You need heart rate?...I'm on it!

Today was another of day of deer trapping. After checking ten traps with no success, we found one clover trap with both a doe and buck inside. It is very rare to have more than one deer caught in a clover trap. The doe was pregnant, so we quickly began the procedures. I put in ear tags for the first time today. I had to feel the two main veins in her ear and then punch the ear tag in-between them. I also took her heart rate. I have only gone through these procedures once before, and my first time checking heart rate was unsuccessful. This time I was able to find her heart beat rather quickly. It is so fascinating to be a part things that I would up until this point only see at a veterinary or doctors clinic. Performing some of the duties myself feels unbelievably stimulating and surreal.

On top of everything that was going on, I also helped record most of the data. It is very difficult to record data while working with a sedated animal because timing is everything. Her temperature, heart rate, and respiration rate must be recorded every ten minutes for the first half hour. The time recorded must be down to seconds. This is excluding all the times that needed to be recorded for everything else like time of induction (for sedation drug) and time at which first blood was drawn. When we were done, we had to give the doe a reversal drug, which Nate instructed me to do. Luckily I don't have a fear of needles. Once I properly prepared the needle, it was pretty easy to give her the injection. There are quite a few steps in preparation though, including pushing all the air out and making sure you have the correct amount of the drug.

Alec, another wildlife technician, learned how to take blood. Getting the needle to hit the proper vein looked extremely challenging. I am very excited for my chance to learn how to do it. I was also in charge of recording data for each trap (i.e. time at which trap was set, whether or not there were any captures, what was done to the trap if anything, such as re-baiting). Unfortunately the map that shows the location of the traps and route taken was hard to read, so I messed up the trap numbers. Nate said he is going to create a better map, so I hope I won't make that same mistake again.

After we finished checking deer traps, we pre-baited areas for future traps. This means we drive around looking for deer tracks, then find an area that would be a potential spot for trap placement and put bait there. Right now the bait we're using is corn. This will attract the deer and hopefully keep them coming once the traps are set. Overall the day was long and my toes and hands were frozen a good portion of the time. I can't wait for my toe warmers to come! I also wish there was some way I could stimulate the blood circulation in my limbs more efficiently.

I'm sorry there are no pictures. Fortunately I have a camera being mailed to me soon along with the toe warmers. I can't wait to start taking pictures, which I'm sure would make this blog more interesting.

I saw deer today...from two thousand feet in the air!

So today was my first day experiencing aerial telemetry! What an adventure! Unfortunately I was sick on and off for the three of four hours in the plane, but I didn't throw up, which according to research assistant Josh, happens to people 90% of the time. I actually felt very excited and unnerved going to the plane and taking off. The pilot, Gordy, was very kind. He answered all my questions, which were quite a few considering I am most inquisitive and like to know how things work.

This is Gordy and myself in the plane probably an hour or so into the telemetry. Even though I'm smiling, I was feeling pretty sick at this point. Josh was kind of enough to take pictures.

Gordy was very good at detecting frequencies. I learned that there are special points (called way-points) that are recorded from the previous telemetry survey and individual deer and carnivores (that had been caught and are radio-collared) are found by flying near that same point. Radio collars on each individual operate at a specific frequency. After locating many deer, carnivores were next. Some bears are still moving and not hibernating! Apparently the temperature here is warm for this time in the season, so they aren't always in dens. When locating a deer on ground, the plane, which has antennae on each wing, flies in a circle at a 60 degree angle, thus making the antennae closer to the targeted animal. After many circles, we finally reached ground again. It took me some time to regain an appetite.

Once again, Josh offered to take some pictures. Here is the plane and me, surprisingly enthusiastic after nearly throwing up.

I was completely unaware that Josh was still taking pictures...

Still unaware....oh sillyness!

After a short break at the house, Josh and I went to the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) with Nate, one of the PhD students leading the project, to help repair clover traps. Nate showed me how to set-up the trap to get a trigger "pushed" for the door to come down on animals that enter it. Although I was very tired and cold, it was great to learn how these traps worked. I also used a wrench to tighten loose bolts. Of course whenever someone hands me a tool, I seem to hurt myself. I love working with tools, but I feel with my clumsy manor, I'm very prone to injury. I ended up smacking myself in the face with the wrench since I put too much force into tightening the bolt and lost control of it. As luck would have it, the wrench went straight into my new lip piercing. It hurt for a bit and I lost the ball that keeps the piercing from coming out.

It's hard to tell, but my lip is pretty swollen right now. It doesn't hurt though, and I still have my piercing! :)

Day two and already injured!

Day two in the field and I've already managed to injure myself. I fell right after getting out of the truck and attempting to run to a deer trap. (We are supposed to run when there is a deer in the trap). I felt something pop followed by immense pain. Luckily I can walk!! After cursing myself I managed to walk to slowly towards the trap and was still able to continue to work afterwards. I can rotate my foot, so I'm not sure what is wrong, but it's nothing serious like a sprain or break.

Today was a rough day. We caught on pregnant doe, but she was too stressed so we released her without doing the normal procedures. We also re-captured some fawns. After checking all 23 traps (not 22) we had to remove a rocket net (which is shot at a deer from an airplane, another form of capture). The net was left in the ground for awhile, so much of it was covered in ice. We had to hack away with ice picks before the net was fully removed by being attached to the back of a truck. Then it was off to DNR to help repair deer (clover) traps. Now I'm back home and have changed into comfortable clothes. A nice hot mug of green tea awaits me beside the computer where I must do data entry once again.

At this point I feel very lucky to be put in some a challenging position. Not only am I faced with harsh weather conditions and physical labor, but I'm mentally stimulated everyday. I think after going through this, I will be able to adapt much more easily into new situations and places. I am also getting a great workout! I feel very confident that I can do this job. Today I was assigned to record data as we checked traps. Possessing hearing loss is most undesirable in such cases, however, I was able to catch on after the first few traps and record data somewhat efficiently.

Field Work Day One: Reflections

So it has taken me nearly a year and a half to get my shit together and find a job in my field. I love the fact the I'm finally getting paid to do something I'm passionate about, even if the money isn't that much. Right now I'm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (in a small town called Escanaba) and sharing a beautiful house with seven other scientists, which includes graduate students and fellow wildlife technicians.

My first day in the field involved checking 22 deer traps. The morning started off very well with a pregnant doe in our first trap! Unfortunately we didn't get any more pregnant does, but we did also trap a female fawn and buck. I aided in holding down the doe during the ultrasound and insertion of a vaginal implant transmitter (VIT tag). Soon I will be taking blood samples myself as well as inserting ear tags. It is amazing how much I've seen and learned in just one day!

Next week we will be checking black bear dens, which means I will potentially have the chance to hold a black bear cub and aid in the immobilization of adults. I will also be able to participate in aerial telemetry. This means I will be flying in a plane trying to locate radio-tagged deer using GPS. Wow! This job is full of all sorts of surprises.

Right now I would like to sleep since I didn't get enough of that last night and working out in the cold plus running from trap to trap is tiring. However, I still have some data entry left to do. I am looking forward to getting into bed early this evening since tomorrow it is rise and shine at 6:30am once again!